95
5
DATA CONVERSION DEVICES
AND ERRORS
5-0 INTRODUCTION
Data conversion devices provide the interfacing components between continuous-
time signals representing the parameters of physical processes and their discrete-time
digital equivalent. Recent emphasis on computer systems for automated manufactur-
ing and the growing interest in using personal computers for data acquisition and
control have increased the need for improved understanding of the design require-
ments of real-time computer I/O systems. However, before describing the theory and
practice involved in these systems it is advantageous to understand the characteriza-
tion and operation of the various devices from which these systems are fabricated.
This chapter provides detailed information concerning A/D and D/A data conversion
devices, and supporting components including analog multiplexers and sample-hold
devices. The development of the individual error budgets representing these devices
is also provided to continue the quantitative methodology of this text.
5-1 ANALOG MULTIPLEXERS
Field-effect transistors, both CMOS and JFET, are universally used as electronic
multiplexer switches today, displacing earlier bipolar devices that had voltage off-
set problems. Junction FET switches have greater device electrical ruggedness and
approximately the same switching speeds as CMOS devices. However, CMOS
switches are dominant in multiplexer applications because of their unfailing turnoff,
especially when the power is removed, unlike JFET devices, and their ability to
multiplex signal levels up to the power supply voltages. Figure 5-1 shows a CMOS
analog switch circuit where a stable ON resistance is achieved of about 100 ⍀ se-
ries resistance by the parallel p- and n-channel devices. Terminating a CMOS mul-
tiplexer with a high-input-impedance voltage follower eliminates any voltage di-
vider errors possible as a consequence of the ON resistance. Figure 5-2 presents
Multisensor Instrumentation 6
␴

may be optimized either for speed or accuracy. The noninverting input amplifier
provides a high-impedance buffer stage, and the overall unity feedback minimizes
signal transfer error when the device is in the tracking mode. The clamping diodes
ensure that the circuit remains stable during the hold mode when the switch is open.
The inclusion of S/H devices in sampled-data systems must be carefully considered.
The following examples represent the three essential applications for sample-holds.
Table 5-3 lists representative sample-hold errors.
V
i
– V
0
ᎏ
V
i
5-2 SAMPLE-HOLDS
97
TABLE 5-1. Multiplexer Switch Characteristics
Type ON Resistance OFF Isolation Sample Rate
CMOS 100 ⍀ 70 dB 10 MHz
JFET 50 ⍀ 70 dB 1 MHz
Reed 0.1 ⍀ 90 dB 1 KHz
TABLE 5-2. Representative Multiplexer Errors
REED CMOS
Transfer error 0
ෆ
.
ෆ
0
ෆ
1

channels having RC time constants on the order of the S/H internal acquisition time,
defined by equation (5-2), overlapping multiplexer channel selection and A/D con-
version can speed system throughput significantly by means of an interposed sam-
ple-hold. A second application is described by Figure 5-5. Simultaneous data acqui-
sition is required for many laboratory measurements in which multiple sensor
channels must be acquired at precisely the same time. By matching S/H devices in
bandwidth and aperture time, interchannel signal time skew can be minimized. The
timing relationships are consequently preserved between signals, even though data
conversion is performed sequentially.
Acquisition time = + 9(R
o
+ R
ON
) C seconds (5-2)
Voltage comparison A/D converters such as successive approximation devices
require a constant signal value for accurate conversion. This function is normally
provided by the application of a sample-hold preceding the AD converter, which
constitutes the third application. An important issue is matching of S/H and A/D
specifications to achieve the performance of interest. Sample-hold performance is
|V
0
– V
i
|C
ᎏᎏ
I
o
98
DATA CONVERSION DEVICES AND ERRORS
FIGURE 5-3. Closed-loop sample-hold.

ity I
o
of the input amplifier. As the capacitor voltage enters the settling band coinci-
dent with the linear region of amplifier operation, final charging is exponential and
corresponds to the summed time constants in equation (5-2), where R
o
corresponds
to amplifier output resistance and R
ON
the switch resistance. The consequence of
aperture time is to provide an average aperture error associated with the finite
bound within which the amplitude of a sampled signal is acquired. Since this is a
system error instead of a component error, its evaluation is deferred to Section 6-3.
5-3 DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERTERS
D/A converters, or DACs, provide reconstruction of discrete-time digital signals
into continuous-time analog signals for computer interfacing output data recovery
purposes such as actuators, displays, and signal synthesizers. D/A converters are
considered prior to A/D converters because some AID circuits require DACs in
their implementation. A D/A converter may be considered a digitally controlled po-
tentiometer that provides an output voltage or current normalized to a full-scale ref-
erence value. A descriptive way of indicating the relationship between analog and
digital conversion quantities is a graphical representation. Figure 5-7 describes a
three-bit D/A converter transfer relationship having eight analog output levels rang-
ing between zero and seven-eighths of full scale. Notice that a DAC full-scale digi-
tal input code produces an analog output equivalent to FS – 1 LSB. The basic struc-
ture of a conventional D/A converter includes a network of switched current
100
DATA CONVERSION DEVICES AND ERRORS
FIGURE 5-6. S/H-A/D Timing Relationships
sources having MSB to LSB values according to the resolution to be represented.

and to have missing codes. Integral nonlinearity is an average error that generally
does not exceed 1 LSB of the converter resolution as the sum of differential nonlin-
earities.
Table 5-5 presents frequently applied unipolar and bipolar codes expressed in
terms of a 12-bit binary wordlength. These codes are applicable to both D/A and
A/D converters. The choice of a code should be appropriate to the application and
its sense understood (positive-true, negative-true). Positive-true coding defines a
logic 1 as the positive logic level, and in negative-true coding the negative logic
level is 1 with the other level 0. All codes utilized with data converters are based on
the binary number system. Any base 10 number may be represented by equation (5-
3), where the coefficient a
i
assumes a value of 1 or 0 between the MSB (0.5) and
LSB (2
–n
). This coding scheme is convenient for data converters where the encoded
102
DATA CONVERSION DEVICES AND ERRORS
FIGURE 5-8. Straight binary three-bit DAC.
TABLE 5-4. Representative 12-Bit DAC Errors
Mean integral nonlinearity (1 LSB) 0
ෆ
.
ෆ
0
ෆ
2
ෆ
4
ෆ

BCD and Complementary BCD
Scale + 10 V FS + 5 V FS Binary Coded Decimal Complementary BCD
+ FS – 1 LSB + 9.99 + 4.95 1001 1001 1001 0110 0110 0110
+ 7/8 FS + 8.75 + 4.37 1000 0111 0101 0111 1000 1010
+ 3/4 FS + 7.50 + 3.75 0111 0101 0000 1000 1010 1111
+ 5/8 FS + 6.25 + 3.12 0110 0010 0101 1001 1101 1010
+ 1/2 FS + 5.00 + 2.50 0101 0000 0000 1010 1111 1111
+ 3/8 FS + 3.75 + 1.87 0011 0111 0101 1100 1000 1010
+ 1/4 FS + 2.50 + 1.25 0010 0101 0000 1101 1010 1111
+ l/8 FS + 1.25 + 0.62 0001 0010 0101 1110 1101 1010
0 + 1 LSB + 0.01 + 0.00 0000 0000 0001 1111 1111 1110
0 0.00 0.00 0000 0000 0000 1111 1111 1111
Bipolar Codes—12-Bit Converters
Offset Two’s One’s Sign-Magnitude
Scale ± 5 V FS Binary Complement Complement Binary
+ FS – 1 LSB + 4.9976 1111 1111 1111 0111 1111 1111 0111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111
+ 3/4 FS + 3.7500 1110 0000 0000 0110 0000 0000 0110 0000 0000 1110 0000 0000
+ 1/2 FS + 2.5000 1100 0000 0000 0100 0000 0000 0100 0000 0000 1100 0000 0000
+ 1/4 FS + 1.2500 1010 0000 0000 0010 0000 0000 0010 0000 0000 1010 0000 0000
0 0.0000 1000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 1000 0000 0000
–1/4 FS – 1.2500 0110 0000 0000 1110 0000 0000 1101 1111 1111 0010 0000 0000
–1/2 FS – 2.5000 0100 0000 0000 1100 0000 0000 1011 1111 1111 0100 0000 0000
–3/4 FS – 3.7500 0010 0000 0000 1010 0000 0000 1001 1111 1111 0110 0000 0000
– FS + 1 LSB – 4.9976 0000 0000 0001 1000 0000 0001 1000 0000 0000 0111 1111 1111
– FS – 5.0000 0000 0000 0000 1000 0000 0000
value is interpreted in terms of a fraction of full scale for n-bit word lengths.
Straight-binary, positive-true unipolar coding is most commonly encountered.
Complementary binary positive-true coding is identical to straight binary negative-
true coding. Sign-magnitude bipolar coding is often used for outputs that are fre-
quently in the vicinity of zero. Offset binary is readily converted to the more com-

each branch connection with equal left–right current division (see Figure 5-9).
V
0
= · V
ref
·
Α
n
i=0
2
–i
Weighted (5-4)
V
0
= · ·
Α
n
i=0
2
–i
R – 2R (5-5)
A D/A converter that accepts a variable reference can be configured as a multi-
plying DAC that is useful for many applications requiring a digitally controlled
scale factor. Both linear and logarithmic scale factors are available for applications
such as, respectively, digital excitation in test systems and a dB step attenuator in
communications systems. The simplest devices operate in one quadrant with a
unipolar reference signal and digital code. Two-quadrant multiplying DACs utilize
either bipolar reference signals or bipolar digital codes. Four-quadrant multiplica-
tion involves both a bipolar reference signal and bipolar digital code. Table 5-6 de-
scribes a two-quadrant, 12-bit linear multiplying D/A converter. The variable